


The Moments of a Life

by Shabby Abby (KJPearl)



Series: Three Lives, Intertwined [1]
Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Reminiscing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-06-24
Packaged: 2018-11-18 12:26:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11290701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KJPearl/pseuds/Shabby%20Abby
Summary: How Jace and Addax build and break over the years, and how Jamil helps to guide them.





	The Moments of a Life

Jace and Addax had spent a lot of time not quite fitting together in the way they wanted. Meeting in the wrong place or the wrong time. First, the Golden War, both so young but desperate to seem older. Putting up walls with lies of strength, determination, and confidence they could not bring themselves to truely feel. With the weight of the Golden Branch Star Sector upon their shoulders, there was no time for love.

Jace would later say it was love at first sight when he met Addax. When the divine Peace docked alongside the Seventh Sun and its candidate walked out, it symbolized all Jace’s hopes. An end to the war, a new unity between OriCon and the Diaspora, a sector brought at last to peace. The giant divine loomed in all its shining glory and the human pilot, who should have seemed so tiny in comparison, was just as massive. Addax's chiseled jaw and broad shoulders seemed to hold all the confidence Jace wished he could have. He spoke little, but stood proud. He gave orders and was obeyed as though he himself were some kind of deity.

Addax similarly would look back, as he was prone to during those ten years when he believed Jace dead, and he too would reminisce on love. In that decade Addax would have countless thoughts about the OriCon pilot who had first shown him the grace that could be found within machinery. While Addax piloted Peace with a bond forged from careful work and experience, he still was but a pilot to a giant hunk of metal. Something about Jace, whether his stratus skills or perhaps just some quirk of personality, made his flight seem effortless. An intuitive extension of his so frail, so human body. Breaking apart and reassembling, his Panther seemed an apt metaphor for the state of the sector and the perfect Rigger for the hero of the war.  


In truth, throughout the whole of their mission together, the two barely spoke. Of course, they had meetings together. Discussed the Apostolosian threat from both without and within, the dangers of Ibex. But there was never time to speak frankly. To learn the hidden corners of each other and how their broken edges just might fit together. A tension of something which may have been love or lust or something else entirely bloomed within each. But secretly. Separately.

Upon Jace's reawakening the two dared to try again. Jace sought out Addax and Addax invited his old friend to join him in the Rapid Evening. It was then that something real began to grow between the two, something made of the both of them. It sprouted intertwining vines during nights spent sleeplessly reviewing files. Trying to find answers hidden on the page: Where was Rigour? What was Rigour? And, most importantly, how could it be stopped? The threat of their demise was greater than it had ever been, but this time vast, slow moving, and distant. This time they had nothing but time. So, late night research fed late night talks. Discussions of families, of histories, and of dreams long abandoned. Their feelings blossomed over missions. While sneaking through every inch of the sector to find the data they needed or to stop people who dabbled with technology dangerous beyond their comprehension. In the adrenalin of the hunt and in the tightly shared quarters of ships and hotel rooms alike love flourished. There were days of adoration and nights of passion. But all of it tinged with desperation. It was the end of the world and they knew it. Neither dared waste an instant.

Until _that_ moment. After the news of Rigour’s defeat reached them. In an intercepted communication from Representative Aria Joie to her second in command, Jaqui Green, "It's done. Rigour is... It was Cass. They're dead too. They went into the sun with Rigour. To make sure it was done, that we were safe. We’re finally safe." And then she burst into tears. Addax and Jace knew the feeling. They had lost so much in this war. And in the last. But contrary to all their expectations, they had somehow not lost other. And it hit them then that they did not know how the move forward. Where to go from here? Did they stay with the Rapid Evening, gathering up the ruins of a fallen devil for the rest of their lives, or did the attempt to return to the dreams that had already accepted surrendering. Would that even be possible?

It was Jamil who came then to their salvation, guiding them like plants to sunlight. She had been a frequent addition to their missions with the Evening and almost as frequent an addition to their bed. The day of Rigour’s defeat was one of those times. Three people locked together in a celebration of life and a fear of the vast future. But Jamil had always been a woman who knew what she wanted, what she needed, and what she did best. So with Rigour gone, she loosened her ties to the Evening, though never entirely leaving their service, and began reporting gain. To serve and save the people of the sector. She delved into the workings of every government and every corporation. It was she who first began to publically expose the atrocities of the September institute. The unethical, secretive cloning and the young divine which linked human to Mesh and rewrote memory. And it was this which inspired Jace, after almost twenty years as a pilot, to return to school. He studied strati, both their abilities and history, becoming the greatest expert on the matter since Maryland September herself. Addax continued working for the Principality of Kesh, as an ambassador for peace, and joined rebuilding efforts throughout the sector. He gained himself the title of Lilac Duke as well as a large estate on the planet Kesh. There stood the house which the three would always consider their home. And where, after years of service to the sector, they would eventually retire.

**Author's Note:**

> @abbyisshabby on twitter @abby-not-too-shabby on tumblr
> 
> Apparently I've dealt with my season 3 post-finale feelings by word-vomiting my c/w feelings.


End file.
